Military Families With VA Home Loans Offered Help To Avoid Foreclosures
Military personnel and their families with VA home loans are not immune to the housing crisis, but efforts are underway to help them avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.
The Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program was formed to help servicemen and women sell their homes if their home values decline due to base closings or realignments. In 2009, it expanded to help military personal and their families if DOD employees are killed or injured while deployed.
The program covers the difference between 95 percent of the home’s appraised before a base closure announcement and the appraised value or sales price after the announcement. The government can also purchase the property for 75 percent of the original price or payoff the mortgage. However, the program doesn’t help service personnel if their home values have dropped because of the real estate bubble.
About 12,000 families asked for help through the program, according to an article in USA Today. Over 20,000 veterans, active-duty military personnel and reservists with VA home loans lost their homes through foreclosures last year, the largest number since 2003.
Citing figures from RealtyTrac, the newspaper said foreclosure filings in ZIP codes near military bases were 32 percent from 2008 to 2010. Nationally, foreclosures filings were up 23 percent.
USA Cares, a nonprofit group, provides grants to military servicemen and women with financial troubles. “While the mortgage and real estate crisis has affected all Americans, military families with fewer options, have been impacted disproportionately,” the group states on its website.
VA home loans can provide important benefits. Veterans, plus active duty personnel, reservists and National Guard members, can use the government-backed mortgages to purchase a home no down payment. The no-down-payment home loans can be up to $417,000, up to $729,725 in high-cost areas.
Veterans can also use VA home loans to refinance their current mortgage with current mortgage rates, although mortgage amounts are limited to $144,000.
Borrowers pay an upfront VA funding fee, but that fee can be included in the total mortgage amount or paid by the seller, and the borrower does not pay private mortgage insurance. The home loans are made through government-approved lenders and guaranteed by the government.
To learn more about the mortgage options available to you, visit http://www.totalmortgage.com. To see all the latest mortgage and economic news, visit our blog at http://www.totalmortgage.com/blog.
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